Mountaineers Win Streak Ends to Big 12 Power Team
MORGANTOWN, WV—The No.24 ranked WVU Women’s basketball team lost its first game of the season Saturday to No. 10 ranked Texas 70-49. The Mountaineers (13-1, 2-1 Big 12) shot a season low 26.7 percent (16 of 60) from the floor and connected on just 4 of 31 tries from beyond the arc. Junior guard JJ Quinerly had a game best 22 points to go along with 4 rebounds, 4 steals and one assist. Sophomore guard Jordan Harrison had ten points while junior Tirzah Moore had six rebounds.
The Mountaineers were able to force 24 turnovers for the second consecutive game. It’s the 13th time this season WVU had 21 plus opponent turnovers.
The Longhorns (15-1, 2-1 Big 12) opened the game 4-0 before Quinerly hit a three to make it 4-3. The Longhorns connected on five straight attempts from the field to pull ahead 15-7 at 3:19. Texas took a 23-16 lead after ten minutes of play because of an 8-10 mark from the floor.
UT scored the opening point of the second quarter and then kept a ten point lead over the first 4 minutes. WVU then fell behind by as many as 15 points late in the second quarter before Lauren Fields hit a three pointer to pull the Mountaineers to 37-25.
WVU struggled on offense in the third quarter , hitting just 3 of 16 shots from the floor. Texas led by as many as 24 points in the third quarter. WVU outscored the Longhorns 17-16 in the fourth quarter, shooting a game-best 50 percent from the floor.
WVU is now 10-18 all time versus Texas and 5-7 in games played in Morgantown. The Mountaineers will hit the road for two straight games. WVU heads to Ames Iowa to take on Iowa State Wednesday at 7:30. They close out the road trip at Orlando with a match up against UCF on Saturday at noon.